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On 

Woodrow 

Wilson 




N address in Louisville 
by Robert W. Bing- 
ham, State Chairman 
of the Woodrow Wilson 
Foundation. 



JANUARY 13, 1 922 









1^, \\V^ 



The Present, 

and the Future, Place 

In History 

of Woodrow Wilson 

The following is the stenographic 
text of a speech delivered by Robert 
W. Bingham, owner of The Courier- 
Journal and The Louisville Times, at 
a mass meeting at the Municipal Tab- 
ernacle January 13, 1922, in the inter- 
est of the Woodrow Wilson Founda- 
tion, of which Mr. Bingham is State 
chairman: 

"Ladies and Gentlemen: I am very 
much surprised to see so many people 
here tonight. It is not just exactly 
the sort of call, it is not just exactly 
the time, it is not the kind of weather, 
that might bring together a great 
concourse. 1 am surprised at the 
number here tonight. 

"I am not at all surprised at the 
quality represented in the men and 
women who are here. You men and 
women who are here are the people 
who have been thinking for years as 
the majority of the American people 
are beginning to think now, as all 
Americans should and will think in 
the future. You are the vanguard. 
You are the leaders. You are the 
people who are right now, and have 
been right and who are to bring the 
rest of our countrymen also out of 
the darkness into the light. 

"Now, that we may begin this meet- 
ing in very good humor, I want to read 
you a few extracts from speeches made 
in Congress and from publications in 
American newspapers: 

" 'He considers himself sovereign, 
immaculate, infallible, omniscient. 
What will posterity say of the man 
who has done this thing? Will it not 
say the mask of hypocrisy has been 
worn by Caesar, by Cromwell, and 
by him alike? He employs ^he seclu- 
sion of a monk and the supercilious 
distance of the tyrant. He is cold 
and reserved. His temper is arbitrary. 
History yet will tear the page devoted 
to his praise. The glory that shone 
around him is dissolved in mist. Tht; 
enemies of liberty and his country 
claim him as their own. Posterity will 



look in vain for any marks of wisdom 
in his administration. They will see 
instead the worst of all diseases that 
ever were inflicted on a State.' 

"Very harsh words. Very strong 
words. Words with a very familiar 
sound. But, ladies and gentlemen, 
they were not said — though of words 
like that many were said — these words 
I have read to you were not said of 
Woodrow Wilson. 

"They were said and written of 
George Washington, the Father of His 
Counti-y, in 1795 and 1796. 

"And those who wrote them and 
those who said them have died and 
been forgotten, and the newspapers 
of that day, and the men and women 
of tliat day who said those things 
were just as wrong as the men and 
women in the newspapers who said 
similar things about Woodrow Wil- 
son. 

"We can say without immodesty 
that we do think and do realize and 
appreciate in advance of many of our 
countrymen. I do not wish to dis- 
cuss this subject tonight from any 
sort of partisan or political point of 
view. It never should have been con 
fused with politics. It never had any 
place in political discussions. 

"The Treaty and the League, when 
adopted by all the nations except our 
own, when signed by our own pleni- 
potentiaries, by our own representa- 
tives, was not then Mr. Wilson's 
Treaty or Mr. Wilson's League, great 
as had been his part in forming them. 
It was no man's League or Treaty. 

"It was America's Treaty, America's 
League; the world's Treaty, the world's 
League; and never should malice or 
envy or personal antagonism, never 
should mere political partisanship, 
have fought them as one man's work- 
manship. Those who opposed them 
should have done so only from the 
standpoint that they were not what 
our country or the world needed or 
deserved or should have had. And 
there were people who had that opin- 
ion, quite honestly. But thoy were 
very few. 

"1 belong to a little diimer club 
hero with about twenty members. 
Most of them, 1 believe, are affiliated 
with the Republican party. We had 
a meeting in December, 1918, and 
every man there was heartily in favor 
of the League of Nations. They so 
expressed themselves. 



"And that meeting — because they 
were educated men and intelligent 
men and good citizens — really repre- 
sented the true feeling throughout 
our country. 

"The time came when many of 
those men, most of them, that were 
affiliated with the Republican party, 
■ changed their opinion on the Treaty 
and the League. But I still main- 
tain it was not a party question. 

'"And 1 still m.aintain and 1 am pre- 
pared, I believe, to demonstrate that 
the last election was not a referen- 
dum deciding against the Treaty. 

"That election turned on many dif- 
ferent things. It was influenced by 
the reaction that our countrymen felt 
in common with the people of all the 
allied and other countries, for that 
matter. There were people who were 
discontented with taxation. There 
were people who desired a change — 
which is a common human desire. 
But it was not that solemn referen- 
dum in the Treaty and the League 
which Mr. Wilson desired. 

"At the Republican convention in 
June, 1920, 1 happened to be present. 
You will remember that for three days 
the Resolutions Committee was in 
great travail over this plan in the 
treaty. 

"Among the delegates, through the 
lobbies, in the hotels, in the streets, 
during this long period of impatient 
waiting, the common topic of conver- 
sation among those delegates was: 

' 'What is going to be our position 
on the League? Not, 'I am for it," 
like a thinking man. Not, '1 am 
against it,' like a thinking man. 

" But, 'what are the high priests 
going to tell us to think on this sub- 
ject fraught with so grave conse- 
quences both to our country and to 
the world?' Waiting to be told. 

"When that Resolutions Committee 
came in with its plank on the Treaty 
it was acclaimed by Mr. Borah, and 
Mr. Johnson, and all the irreconcil- 
able bitter-enders, ' as the death of 
the Treatj-. You remember that. 

"It was acclaimed by the strong res- 
ervationists as meaning ratification 
with strong reservations. It was ac- 
claimed by the mild reservationists as 
meaning ratification with mild reser- 
vations. 

"And it was acclaimed by Mr. Tafl, 
the protagonist, the head, of the 
League to Enforce Peace, the collab- 
orator with Mr. Wilson in framing the 



League of Nations, as meaning ratifi- 
cation anyhow. 

"Death; ratification with strong res- 
ervations; ratification with mild reser- 
vations; ratification anyhow — that is 
what that platform was said to mean, 
hy members distinguished and undis- 
tinguished of the Republican party. 

"When Mr. Harding made his speech 
of acceptance August 28, what he said 
on that subject was heralded again by 
the 'bitter-enders' as meaning death 
to the Treaty; by the strong and mild 
reservations as meaning ratification 
on those terms; and again by Mr. Taft 
as meaning ratification. 

■'Now, when that difference of opin- 
ion existed among those men who were 
qualified to speak by their affiliation, 
by their standing in their party, when 
that complete difference of opinion 
existed as to what the position of 
their party was on that momentous 
subject, surely the rank and file were 
justified in sustaining grave doubts in 
their own minds; and surely it cannot 
be said that on that basis, on a plat- 
form so doubtful as that, the Ameri- 
can people arrived by a large majority 
at a decision maintaining the position 
alone of the 'bitter-enders.' 

"As late as October 20, 1920, in the 
midst of that campaign, Mr. Taft, h 
Republican ex-President of the United 
States; Mr. Hughes, the nominee for 
the Presidency in 1916; Mr. Hoover, — 
thirty-one of the leading men in the 
Republican party and in its organiza- 
tion in the United States, over their 
own names, called on the people of 
America to vote for Mr. Harding be- 
cause thus only could they obtain the 
ratification of the Treaty and the 
adoption of the Covenant of the 
League. 

"Now, those are facts which cannot 
be controverted. That is what thosi? 
men — the president of Princeton; the 
president of Yale; the president of 
Cornell: and, in addition, Mr. Hughes 
and Mr. Hoover and Mr. Taft — that 
is what those men thouKht and thai 
is what they said to the .Americai, 
per.ple. 

"And again 1 .say, facing and con- 
sidering and realizing those facts, il 
i.s not possible for anyone to main 
tain, as some attempt to maintain, 
that that election really expre.ssc 1 
the voice, the sentiment, the real 
judgment of the .American people on 
that suVijcct. 



"The voice of the American peopl*.^.. 
on that subject has not yet been 
heard. The real sentiment of th.? 
American people is just really begin- 
ning to realize, to apprehend itself. 
When the real voice of the American 
people does make itself heard, then 
our country is going to rise out of the 
dust of reaction. 

"Then our country is going to climli 
l-ack again to the heights it once oc- 
cupied in the opinion of mankind. 
And again our country is going to 
throw its force and its strength for 
peace and for freedom and for jus- 
tice, and stand with the civilized na- 
tions of the world to preserve that for 
which we and they suffered and gave 
our sons. 

"Now, that question was not decided 
by that election. That question is not 
a political question. I want to repeat 
that. And T want to stress it. 

"Look at the men and the women, 
without regard to politics, without re- 
gard to any sort of political affilia- 
tion, who threw themselves into the 
war. What did they do it for? 

"Vou men and women here, partic- 
ularly you men and women who had 
sons in the service — you did not send 
them there, and they did not go there, 
because they were scared rats, afraid 
not to fight, as he who misrepresents 
America as our ambassador to Eng- 
land has said. 

"You know what you felt. It is 
not the sort of thing that we can verv 
well express. But you know when 
you looked at other men and women's 
sons, when you looked at your own 
sons, when you thought of what they 
were going for, the agony in your 
heart was assuaged by a solemn 
pride. 

"Young eagles, gallant and glorious 
young Americans fired, inspired, led 
in a new and a holy crusade. And 
that is why our sons went to France. 

"They went there to make war in 
order to end war. That is what they 
were taught at home. That was the 
message they carried over. And that 
was the spirit that so led those boys 
that from the time their feet touched 
the soil of France they never moved 
in any direction except forward. 

"Now he shames his country, he 
fihames his countrymen — he speaks 
the basest slander of our sons 
— who would have Americans think 
otherwise. 



"Did our Navy do well in the War? 
Did our Army do well in the war? 
To ask those i)uestions is to answer 
them. 

"But how many times we heard, 
after the war was won; how many 
times we heard, after the Germans 
liad surrendered — that everything wa;^ 
rotten and was wrong, everything Was 
a mistake and a failure and even the 
ideals which had inspired us were 
nothing. 

'"That was said, that was wi-itten. 
that was preached aljout, in our coun- 
ti\v. It was the product of exaltation, 
in a way — after all, neither men nor 
nations can live forever on the heights. 

"What a wonderful country we 
had in November, 191 SI What glori- 
ous, ardent spirit inspired our people! 

"There was no limit to our faith, to 
our enthusiasm, to our energy. There 
was no call which went unanswered. 
What a great country we had in 
November, 1918 — a country which had 
the confidence and the respect and 
the gratitude of all the civilized world 
as no other country had ever had in 
human_Jiistory. / 

"It is to that that Woodrow Wilson 
led us in 191S. 

"How much we have lost! 

"We went into the war inspired by a 
high id eal. J So we believed. So Eu- 
rope believed. We went in to preserve 
what civilization had so painfully and 
so bloodily acquired through long cen- 
turies of suffering and toil, in the war. 
That is what we thought and that is 
what Europe thought. 

"And that is why they gave to us 
that confidence and that gratitude. 
That is why we had the most glorious 
opportunity for ourselves, incidentally 
for the world, that ever came to any 
people. 

"Wf were unselfish; we were not 
seeking for ourselves extension of 
l)Ower, territory or wealth. We were 
at a great distance from the age-long 
quarrels and differences of the Euro- 
l)ean countries. 

"We occupied that supreme position 
of unselfishness, of disinterestedness, 
holding the gratitude and the affection 
of mankind. We lost the greatest op- i 
poitunity that ever came to a people in jf^-,^ 
I he history of the world. We cast it 
aside. We threw it away. 

"We Americans did that thing. Eu- 
rope is suspicious of us now, and they 
have a i-ight to he. They say in their 



hearts, 'Those were your declarations 
to the world. Deny them. You prom- 
ised the influence of your strength, of 
>our power, of your comparatively un- 
diminished resources in money and in 
men to rehabilitate a broken, nearly 
ruined world. You did not do it. What 
sort of people are you Americans? 

"Supposing England had made that 
promise to us, that our conditions 
were reversed. Suppose France had 
made that promise to us, with condi- 
tions reversed, and we had relied on 
it and we had trusted, and we had 
undertaken to bear our share of the 
burden, trusting in the faith of a great 
people, and they had broken their 
word? 

"What would you and I — French or 
English— France with 1,500,000 dead; 
England with 1,000,000 dead— what 
would you and I, French or English, 
looking out over those 1,500,000, those 
1,000,000 graves of our boys — what 
would you and I have thought of the 
United States of America? 

"We did wrong! We lost our pride. 
We betrayed our trust. We turned 
confidence and affection into distrust 
and suspicion. 

"But still every day is a new day. 
Still the opportunity is not wholly 
dead. Still there is a way for Ameri- 
ca to retrieve her lost honor and her 
lost prestige. 

"There is but one way; and that is, 
for you and those like you in our 
country to lead our country back to 
where we leave the company of the 
Russian and the Turk and take our 
place with the fifty-one civilized na- 
tions which are now members of the 
League of Nations. 

"I want to read you something 
else You know we have a disarm- 
ament conference in Washington 
now.. The League of Nations — on 
May 12, 1920, to be exactly correct — 
in the city of Rome established a 
permanent commission of the League 
for the specific purpose of carrying 
out disarmament under the control 
of the fifty-one signatory nations. 

"This conference in Washington 
is in the right direction. It is di- 
rectly carrying out one of the funda- 
mental principles of the Covenant of 
the League. It is a little late. We 
could have had it two years and more 
ago; but at any rate it is in the right 
direction. 

"It ought to be supported by all 
patriotic Americans, men and wornen. 



iiet- It not be said that anyone of you 
opposed this move in the right di- 
rection because Mr. Harding called 
it or because Mr. L.odge is one of the 
plenipotentiaries. 

"T tell you, for the first time in 
my life I find myself in accord with 
Mr. Henry Cabot Lrodge. No; it is the 
second time. The first time was when 
he declared that a separate peace with 
Germany would be an infamy. So I 
have agreed with Mr. Lodge twice, 
but I can't say that I want it to be- 
come a habit. 

"But I do say that if we are not 
ready for a fifty-two nation Treaty 
let us have a nine-Power Treaty; if 
we are not ready for a nine-Power 
Treaty let us have a four-Power 
Treaty; if we are not ready to go in 
the front door let us go in the back 
door — at any rate up the back stairs 
and out of the international back yard 
with the Russian and the Turk. Let 
us leave that company we have been 
keeping. 

"In the great discussion and great 
opposition waged around Article X of 
the Covenant of the League of Nations, 
there were people who said it meant 
that our boys would be ordered over to 
Europe; there were even men not un- 
known in Kentucky who said that Ar- 
ticle X would mean that our sons 
would be ordered to fight for the 
throne of the king .of Timbuctoo. 

"Now the League has been in oper- 
ation for some time, and successful 
operation. Let us not forget that. It 
has served a great and useful purpose. 
It has not accomplished what it might 
have accomplished if we had been 
where we belong. But it has already 
done a great work. 

"It has not called any English 
boys, or Irish boys, or French 
boys, or Italian boys, or any boys to 
fight here or there or for anybody. It 
has settled burning questions in Eu- 
rope which might have forced thos."^ 
boys into war but for its existence 
and its operations. 

"I want to read to you two 
articles. One is Article X, about 
which that controversy raged at the 
time when the treaty was under di.s- 
cussion. The other is Article 2 of 
the present four-Power Treaty, which 
Mr. Lodge presented the other day 
and said should be adopted without 
reservation, although it did appear 
that Mr. Hughes and Mr. Lodge and 
Mr. Underwood and Mr. Pvoot had a 



(liflerenl opinion al)Out thti meaning 
ol' thai TiL-aty from the one main- 
tained Ijy Mr. Harding, who ap- 
pointed them. 

" If the said rights are threatened 
by the aggressive action of any other 
Power, the high contracting parties 
shall communicate with one another 
fully i^nd frankly in order to arrive 
at an understanding as to the most 
efficient measures to be taken jointly 
or separately to meet the exigencies 
nf the particular situation. 

" 'The associated Powei's undertake 
to respect and preserve as against ex- 
ternal aggression the territory, integ- 
i"ity and existing political independ- 
ence of all of its associates. In case 
of any such aggression or in case of 
any threat oi' danger of such aggres- 
sion, they shall advise upon the 
means by which this obligation shall 
be fulfilled.' 

"1 left out one or two words, but I 
have not changed the meaning. 'Ar- 
rive at an understanding as to the 
most efficient measures to be taken 
jointly or separately to meet the exi- 
gencies of the particular situation.' 
'Shall advise upon the means by 
which this obligation shall be ful- 
filled.' 

"Which is Orticle 2? And which is 
Article X? There they are: One, drag- 
ging our country into foreign war^ 
and destroying the lives of our boys'; 
the other to do precisely the opposite 
thing. One, opposed by Mr. Lodge; 
the other, presented by Mr. Lodge 
with a demand for its passage without 
reservation. 

^ "And again 1 ask iou, intelligent 
men and women sitting here: Which 
one is Article X? Which one is Article 
2'.' You can't tell the difference be- 
tween them. 

"Article 2 ought to be adopted— 
that was the first one I read; I should 
n.ot have known it if I had not put 
it down myself — just as Article X 
should have been adopted. 

"I have not tried — nor, really, do I 
intend to try — to cover Mr. Wilson's 
career in any way. I do iiot intend 
to try to give any resume " of his 
achievements. You know them. ' Our 
country knows tliem. The " world 
knows tiiem. 

"Most of the time I intend to take 
here tonight I have devoted to dis- 
cussing, that crowning achievement of 
his life and of his work, because if is 



the crowning achievement not only 

his life and his woik. but the oi 

thing that holds out hope to ma 

kind: because, remember, they ha-" 

all been tried — balances of power ar > 

Of 

courts, The Hague Convention — th( a 

have all been tried and they have a ca 
failed. _j 

"And that is why 1 have devott 
to that subject most of the time T 
intend to take here tonight. 

"This thing that we are proposing 
to do is not wholly and solely a tri- 
t)ute to Mr. Wilson. It is not wholly 
or solely for him at all. It is a recog- 
nition for us and for the world, to 
realize what he stood for and what 
he did; but it is Just as much for 
oui'selves and for our country as it 
is for him. 

"And, more, it gives to us an op 
portunity to regain some of our lost 
idealism. The world cannot live, 
the world cannot move, the world 
cannot progress on any policy 
of selfish isolation. Men and women 
cannot live, and they cannot grow on 
a diet of gross materialism. It is the 
things not of the flesh but of the spirit 
that have power, that have vitality, 
and that have continuity. 

"We stumble and falter and fail, 
but we are never lost if even once in 
a while we can set our eyes upward 
and outward and our feet on a path 
which leads us to work for man, for 
mankind, and not for ourselve!-;. 
True glory of men, and the true 
glory of a people lie in that. Jt was 
along that path he led this people. 

"They have always stoned the 
prophets. What they said about 
Washington, they said about Lincoln. 
What they said about Washington 
and Lincoln, they said about Wood- 
row Wilson. But those who said 
those things about Washington and 
Lincoln have died, and are forgotten, 
and the place in history of those 
great architects is sacred. 

"In that great triumviiate of 
America there will be recognized b\' 
hi.story surely, without any doubt or 
• .uestion, and their will In- recognized 
by those Avho are to come after us: 
Washington, who founded this country; 
I^incoln. who preserved its unity; and 
him who in the fullness of its power 
and its strength led it upon, the last 
and the noblest of .UI the crusades, 
for freedom, for justice, for peace to 
.-ill in. 11 :\nd lo nil the world." 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




013 981 605 5 • 



Hollinger 

pH8.5 

Mill Run F3-1955 



